Gwen Lister

From WikiLeaks

Reporting repressive activities by South African authorities in Namibia.

Editor and founder of The Namibian, Lister began working as a journalist in 1975. In 1978, Lister and Hannes Smith founded the Windhoek Observer, a weekly newspaper. As political editor of the Observer, Lister was harassed and threatened by the South African authorities because of her political reporting and outspoken criticism of South Africa’s policies in Namibia. Not only did she endure police searches of her home, but she also was put on trial – and acquitted – for allegedly possessing banned documents.

In December 1984, Lister distributed a document to various news media that was mistakenly sent to her by the government. It detailed the authorization given to the security police to intercept her mail. Articles on the document appeared in several newspapers, including the Windhoek Advertiser and the Rand Daily Mail in South Africa. Lister was jailed for distributing and “publishing” the letter. Upon her release, her passport was confiscated. During this period, she was confined to the capital and required to report to the police three times a week. The charges were eventually dropped. In June 1988, when she was four months pregnant, Lister was detained because the government wanted to know how she had obtained and published a secret document that detailed a plan to give greater powers to police and institute a State of Emergency in Namibia. She was released after several days due to international protests. She continued to receive telephone death threats, primarily from whites who objected to The Namibian’s role in exposing human rights violations perpetrated by the South African security forces.